6SE First Light

I put it together and wasn't going out tonight, due to some cloud cover. Then I thought that I'd just go out and line the laser finder. Well, I did that and then I had to test it, because I couldn't wait until tomorrow. So I plopped in the Pentax XW 20 and pointed at Jupiter, and there it was!

I couldn't get it focused like I wanted in the 20 or the 5 XW, but it could be due to being on the wooden porch, the neighbor's 100 gazillion watt porch light or who knows.

I'm going to put in the driveway tomorrow and give it another go. I'm thinking about an eye patch too, so I don't have to keep one eye closed!

I think tomorrow, if the clouds stay away will be sweet, and I will be able to look at some other stuff. I'm thinking about Pleiades, they looked good in the binos..

Your problem with Jupiter was likely caused by two things (aside from the wooden deck). 1) cool down - your scope very likely wasn't acclimatized. You'll need to leave the scope out for about an hour or so before going after planets or double stars. During that cool down time you can observe other objects at lower powers. 2) The other issue with Jupiter is that it was likely fairly low and with any instability in the atmosphere (heat rising off of roof tops, etc.) it will never seem to calm down.

The solution to both of these issues is to wait and observe Jupiter later in the evening.

As for other targets, the Pleiades is often underwhelming in a C6, it's simply too big. Try the double cluster in Perseus (NGC 884/869) (high overhead), M15 in Pegasus (in the west), and early in the evening if you have a clear Western horizon M57 in Lyra (low in the north west). And of course if you are waiting on Jupiter a bit the great nebula in Orion (M42) will also have risen enough for a great view.

If your up early and catch the Orion Nebula, if scope has temperature settled, look at the Trapezium 4 tight star group in the Nebula, easy even in lower powers.Additional 11 mag stars E and F obvious in my 8 inch when sky's are steady, yet to check them out on the 6SE, will need some power, a fun challenge.

I broke it out again tonight and like last night, I did leave it our for about 30 minutes and I was out viewing for about 2 hours. My suspicion on Jupiter is the sky that I'm viewing in, or *BLEEP* atmosphere. It looked best in the 20 and ok in the 9 and 5 mm.

I won't be able to tomorrow, but I think if I went to darker skies that would certainly help. Don't get me wrong, yesterday was fine, and today was better. I had a good time either way.

I even checked out the moon and did some hopping around. I'm starting to learn the sky a little so that is nice as well.

I will say the laser finder that comes with the 6se is not so impressive.

Welcome! You can probably put that 5mm EP away and leave it there. The 6SE has just too small an aperature to get enough light into that high power EP. I have a 6mm and can almost never get anything useable in it with my 6SE. With my 8mm, I can, on very rare occassions use it with the 6SE. But pretty rare. I have a 13mm and it works very well and of course so does my 25mm.

Yes, the finder is basically a cheap toy. I did use mine for a long time, nut it finally broke off and to be truthful, I don't miss it. I now use a green laser pointer as a finder. Saves on the neck and back!

I have only had me ES 102 out once, and I did like the 5mm in it. The 20 is my favourite EP for the 6, so far. But I only have a few eyepieces anyway. I do want something in that 13mm range as I think they will be nice. I might one day be able to head out to my sisters and If I get the gumption to take the 6, Joshua Tree might be clean enough to use 5mm. I think a lot of my problem is general air issues in the city.

Congrats on catching the io transit. They are wonderful events to observe. It's an extra bonus when you have the shadow as well. Not checked what time it would have been from your location, but it would have been around 03.00/06.00 approx in the morning here in the U.K. After seeing one, it make you hungry for more. I intended to watch the Eurpoa transit between 20.00 and 22.00 approx on the 29th (evening before the io transit) but the weather beat me. I also used SkySafari to alert me.